Welcome to my Author's website! I created Shannon and Eliza Malone to explore how women such as my mother and birth mother might have overcome their challenges as young Catholic women in an optimistic, but socially restrictive post-World War II culture. I'm pleased to finally share their story with you...

A THREAD SO FINE

Available May 1, 2019

Can love for a secret child heal old wounds?

St. Paul, Minnesota, 1946: Introspective Shannon Malone and her more popular sister Eliza are Irish twins and best friends. As little girls, they relied on each other for companionship and affection as their mother remained distant, beating back the demons of her own mysterious childhood. In the summer of 1946, as womanhood approaches, both look forward to supporting each other in promising--though different--futures. But when tragedy rocks the Malone family to the core, secrets bloom and one sister leaves, possibly forever.

The other, physically and emotionally scarred, vows to hold the invisible thread that runs between them. In the course of her journey, she encounters a child with a hidden past, and discovers the true meaning of family. But is it enough to bring her sister home?

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What Reviewers Are Saying

"In A Thread So Fine, Susan Welch has written a beautiful story of sisters, history and love. The Malone sisters remind us a of a time – not so long ago – when a woman’s autonomy and self-realization often came at a price. Shannon and Eliza grabbed hold of my heart and carried it with them until the final, satisfying pages."

"Two sisters, two secrets and two lives forever altered, uncovering unhealed wounds: this is the major theme of A Thread So Fine. A Thread So Fine is a psychologically acute family story about the interwoven bond between two sisters, Eliza and Shannon, weaving an invisible thread running through their lives from 1946-1965. In "A Thread So Fine" the complexity, darkness and opacity of a family emerges.She wondered what her mother meant when she'd said she'd once let go. She [Eliza) thought of her own letting go--of the horrible truth she could never allow herself to fully recall, a well-guarded secret kept from everyone. Everyone, and most importantly, from her carefully groomed and future self.Heart-broken and scarred, both Eliza and Shannon discover the true meaning of family and sisterhood in a backdrop of ghosts: men returning from the Second World War, parents and their own backstories their children are unaware of, sibling rivalry, religion, and unintended consequences. In this page-turner the reader sees not only what goes on around the characters and to them, but what goes on inside them. In A Thread So Fine the reader will live through the well-constructed story along with Eliza and Shannon! This gripping first novel announces the arrival of a strong, distinct and fully evolved new voice."

“The intense love shared by two sisters is challenged by crises in Welch’s debut novel, set in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Ithaca, New York, during the mid-20th century...

In skillful, straightforward prose, Welch sets her character-driven narrative against the backdrop of postwar societal changes. Along the way, she implicitly contrasts the more traditional St. Paul society with the nascent progressive movements in Ithaca. The addictive melodrama weaves a tale of secrets, misunderstandings, resentments, and squandered opportunities for reconciliation that keep the sisters apart for almost two decades. Shannon, the more creative of the two siblings, is a more fully drawn character than Eliza, and readers get to know her more intimately through her unmailed letters. A strangely ethereal epilogue offers a mostly satisfying conclusion, even if it leaves a few questions unanswered.

As romances, politics, and trauma arise for each sister, patterns of the past threaten to overwhelm and separate their connections: "Eliza pulled the receiver away from her face and brought it to her chest, her mind reeling. Again, Fa was asking her to bury her needs in the shadow of Shannon’s trauma. Again, pushed aside by Shannon’s neediness."
Can the ties that bind prove changeable rather than breakable? Some things never change, and readers who undertake the journey of this evolving relationship between two sisters from childhood to adulthood will find that A Thread So Fine lassos the heart with stories of close connections tested by life's progression.
Readers of women's fiction who especially enjoy stories of sister relationships will relish this engrossing saga of change and survival.
—Midwest Book Review

There are so many issues in this beautifully written book: unwed mothers, veterans with PTSD, violence against women, a broken family, women’s ambitions, and adoption.
Welch makes her readers ache for these two sisters and their unnecessary separation for so many years. This is one of those rare novels that forces you to sit for a few minutes after you’ve finished reading it until you are ready to return to the real world.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities Pioneer Press

“Ms. Welch was herself adopted and this journey provided the impetus for her to write this wonderful book. I fell in love with the characters and their separate journeys. If you are searching for a wonderful summer read this may be the book for you.” —Michelle Kaye Malsbury of Bookpleasures.com

“A touching story about family; A Thread So Fine will captivate and enlighten you...Susan Welch is a very talented writer; the story flows well and her attention to detail is fascinating. This book teaches you that not every family is perfect, and when things go wrong, you must take care of yourself.” —Reedsy Discovery

What Readers Are Saying

Laura Bach, OnlineBookClub.org

A Thread So Fine is one of the most memorable and inspiring historical fictions I’ve ever read. It exceeded all my expectations. My first impression was that this is an adorable story about two sisters, but it’s a haunting tale with a rich story-line about a family torn apart by secrets with two incredibly powerful women at its core. The relationship between the two sisters was consuming for me. I ached at their estrangement and rooted for their reconciliation. Susan Welch portrays a family drama mirroring her own experience and fully mastering the genre.

Dr. Angela Eilers, Minneapolis, MN

“Inseparable sisters, Shannon and Eliza, are warmly memorable characters. I found myself immersed in their lives as if they were my own family. Set in the 1940s, this premier novel tells the tale of each sister’s wildly different dreams for her future, yet one braces for heartache knowing dreams can’t all come true. The story of Shannon’s love for Eliza and the invisible thread she believes will bring her home weaves historical events of immense interest: life-threatening tuberculosis treatments, family abandonment over shame and the tightly guarded secrecy for victimized women, to name just a few. Welch as a first-time author shines as the story teller of this vivid depiction of post-war life in St. Paul, Minnesota and Ithaca, NY—reminding the reader of a more genteel world, although a world still fraught with social challenges and turmoil that persist today. This book is a gem!”

Mary Ranahan, Seattle, WA

﻿“I read this book in 2 days…a real page turner. It’s a great work of historical fiction and a thoroughly captivating storyline, smartly written with flair.”

Eliza Amon, Seattle, WA

“Two sisters, a secret and two lives forever altered. This is a totally captivating novel that plunges the reader into the lives of Shannon and Eliza, two Irish-American sisters living in the post-World War II American Midwest. Their experiences and dreams take them in totally different directions and I was totally immersed in the story. I ached at their estrangement and rooted for their reconciliation. I loved the historical details as well, especially that Frances Perkins is a character. This is a totally absorbing novel that is wonderful to curl up with….”

About Susan

S
usan grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin with either her nose in a book or her toes in the water. After graduating with a Masters in International Management from AGSIM-Thunderbird, she spent fifteen years in business calling on breweries across the world, which gave her a treasured perspective both on cultural diversity and on the opportunities she might discover for learning, giving and growing. She now works for a company focused on regional agriculture, new technologies, and craft brewing.

Always a writer, Susan often attempts to solve her problems in third person, creating fictionalized versions of herself and the main characters in her life—mostly in her head, but sometimes on paper. Nearly a decade ago, in the days after discovering her own adoption story for the first time, she turned to her imagination to trick her reeling mind so she could get a good night’s sleep. A THREAD SO FINE was born of those creative threads weaving into nocturnal dreams as she struggled to re-write the beginning of her own life story.

Welch created Shannon and Eliza, Nell and Miriam as a way to imagine how women such as her Midwestern birth mother and adoptive mother might have overcome challenges as young Catholic women in an optimistic, but socially restrictive post-World War II culture. With the exception of FDR’s Labor Secretary, Mrs. Frances Perkins, the people in A THREAD SO FINE are all much loved fabrications layered with realities, truths and insights about her cherished mother, her brave birth mother, her beloved mother-in-law, her younger sister, and herself.
When not traveling for work or pleasure, Susan spends her time either on the family houseboat in Seattle, or in a cabin in the dark and rainy, sometimes balmy woods of Lummi Island – and if she’s lucky, her husband Bruce is right there with her.

A THREAD SO FINE - Serial Chapters

Eliza Amon and I recently started an exciting, new on-line literary magazine, called Hot Flash Fiction to celebrate ‘womxn-of-a-certain-age…’through literature. We are focused on womxn – both as the story-tellers and the stories, themselves.
We publish monthly issues of fiction and other versions of the truth. No Hallmark stories. No self-help articles. Just smart, funny, compelling and interesting writing. Sorry, no poetry.
We are seeking previously unpublished work. Please submit your work (up to 5,000 words) through Submittable.com - or through our website Hotflashfiction.com.

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About us

Susan Welch is an author of Women’s Fiction, memoir and children’s books. Her debut novel, A Thread So Fine, will be available for purchase wherever books are sold on December 15th, 2018.

Susan graduated with a Masters in International Management from AGSIM-Thunderbird Campus and had the good fortune to be offered a position in international sales for a French company selling malt to breweries around the world.